Teaching sales, marketing and customer service with humor and enthusiasm

Tag Archives: social media for business

Are your employees following the company on social media? If not they should be. Social media is a great place for employees to get reminders of the information or offers that you are broadcasting to customers.

In the days before the internet took us to worlds we had never anticipated, it was common in business that employees (especially part time or occasional employees) were not up-to-date on what was going on as far as specials or events were concerned. It was not unusual in the wine business when wineries were doing AVA-wide events and selling tickets for these events that customers would visit a winery asking for tickets and the person at the tasting bar would tell them that they didn’t have tickets for the event. This is just one example of how information is not been disseminated to everyone who needs to have it.

As part of the dissemination of information, encourage your employees to follow the business Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, etc. In fact, you may wish to make following the business social media mandatory, just as it’s mandatory that they read memos and other information relating to their jobs.

If you are an employee, it is going to make your job easier if you know what is going on in the business. In most consumer-oriented companies, customer specials, events, and other customer oriented information can be hard to keep up with, so being aware of what customers are seeing on social media will help you remind customers of things they may have forgotten. Not to mention helping you with sales. You can keep up on what customers are thinking, and whether they are happy or not. Also, keep track of any personal mentions you may get. It doesn’t hurt to know how many customers have appreciated your help, especially if you are hoping for promotion or a raise in pay.

Be aware of everything that is happening in your business on social media. It will keep you at the top of your game.

There are lots of examples of people using social media to say or do things that it would be better if they didn’t. It is common now to hear of some celebrity tweeting their opinion on some topic that they have to explain later. Very recently I saw on the news a clip of a young woman, using the social media app Periscope, to broadcast herself driving while very drunk. I was reminded that we should think long and hard before we put anything out on social media for our business.

It is even more important on a business account that puts up posts that are born from frustration. I recently came across one of these and am sharing some excerpts from the post. I have taken out any reference to the type of business, name or location, even though this was posted on the business Facebook page.

“…We are extremely proud on what we do. And yes, we get it… (our products) are not for everyone. Understand our (business) for what it is – not what you think it should be… stop making us regret our decision to stay true to what (our business) means to us.”

Berating your possible customers on an open site for everyone to read it not a great way to encourage people to visit your place of business. I know owning a retail business can be frustrating sometimes and yes there are times that we would like to tell people exactly what we are thinking, but it is very rarely a good idea.

What you do on your own private social media accounts is up to you. Though, if you are using a business account, it’s good to keep your personal opinions – especially your opinions on politics, religion or other possibly incendiary topics – to yourself.

What goes up on your business’ social media accounts is a reflection of you and your business. It’s hard enough to gain customers without losing them because of differing viewpoints that may have nothing to do with the quality or price of your products.